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Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe (2008)

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Re: Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe (2008)

#81

Post by pkroll »

ashark wrote: post #65
pkroll wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My solution to (several) pizza stones cracking was a pizza steel. It's huge, heavy, and it isn't going to crack short of being shot with a Howitzer.

We haven't had a problem since we started using parchment paper. My guess is moisture/grease from the pizza was soaking into the stones and weakening them over time.

You're almost certainly correct.

As an aside, I once set the oven on self-clean, forgetting a pizza stone was still in there, and that was a mixed experience. On the one hand, I had to open the windows and pull the smoke detectors as smoke poured out of the oven for a while. On the other hand, when done, the pizza stone looked like it was fresh out of the box, not a stain on it.

I have no idea if that's a plus, a minus, or meant nothing for that particular stone... but it eventually cracked like the others.

Re: Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe (2008)

#82

Post by mywittyname »

wklauss wrote: post #55

I'll be moving from NYC to Atlanta soon and the quality of pizza has been one of my worries (stupid, I know, but it's the little things). Super happy to find out good NYC-style pizza can be produced there. I always assumed the high humidity will mess things up. Now if someone can figure out how to make decent bagels down there...

Great bagels are tough. They don't last too long, so a place needs to have enough foot traffic to justify making a fresh batch every few hours.

Re: Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe (2008)

#84

Post by contingencies »

FYI for Americans: when you describe pizza as pie and non-American English speakers are listening, their inner child recoils in horror.

pizza = flat thing with cheese on top, pizza base at bottom

pie = closed thing with significant vertical component, pastry on top and bottom

Otherwise, every flatbread or similar thing on earth is a pie. Observe: "Oh, I really dig these Indian roti-pies". "Pass me another naan-pie". "Papadam pie party!". "The omlette is my favourite pie!". "Cheese toasties are a way better pies than pizza!". "A breakfast of pancake: how I love a pie in the morning!" It's insane.

Re: Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe (2008)

#85

Post by dminor »

DigitalJack wrote: post #76
pao wrote: post #68

I decided about two years ago try to make a lot of pizza and see how good I could get. I live in a small apartment with a gas oven. When I started, I would make them on a regular baking pan with the oven set to 400°. They were terrible, but it was fun. At some point, my wife jammed a rectangular grilling stone (from Amazon) into our broiler. That made more of a difference than anything. If your broiler is in the main…

Our stones specifically say not to use them with the broiler. Which one do you use?

Consider trying a steel instead - it will take the broiler just fine.

Re: Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe (2008)

#86

Post by dminor »

spaceflunky wrote: post #67
panglott wrote: post #60

I'm not going to modify my stove to cook at 800 deg F., so for my money the best way to get half-decent pizza at home is to make a soft, elastic dough and then cook on a surface that has some thermal mass. I've had good luck with a cast-iron pizza pan. https://www.cooksillustrated.com/equipment_reviews/1340-cast... There are some things that it's better to have specialists do with specialist equipment, and I'm fine w…

You can buy a plate of steel that can be used as a "baking stone" which will hold in and transfer heat to the pizza exceptionally well. If you go down to your local metal supply store you can have them cut one of these plates for you that is thicker (thicker is better) and cheaper than you can buy at any cooking store.

I went this route. There's still a bit of work to do to remove the mill scale and then season it, but it's nice to get something custom that fits your oven.

Re: Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe (2008)

#87

Post by krosaen »

This recipe (from my favorite NYC pizza place) nails the flour/water ratio IMO:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016230-robertas-pizza-d...

with King Arthur's bread flour and over night rising works really well for me.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BSFAHprAJuF/?taken-by=krosaen

my oven gets up to 550 and I use a pizza stone.

Re: Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe (2008)

#88

Post by chiph »

lhl wrote: post #6

Here's a couple interviews from a few years back on what it was like to transition from basically an extremely dedicated hobbyist to a pro (Varasano opened his first restaurant in 2009): http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2014/04/jeff-varasano-... http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2014/04/the-slice-inte...

FYI - His location is in Concourse A in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport (ATL). I'll try it next time I've got a layover.

Re: Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe (2008)

#89

Post by bshimmin »

contingencies wrote: post #84

FYI for Americans: when you describe pizza as pie and non-American English speakers are listening, their inner child recoils in horror. pizza = flat thing with cheese on top, pizza base at bottom pie = closed thing with significant vertical component, pastry on top and bottom Otherwise, every flatbread or similar thing on earth is a pie. Observe: "Oh, I really dig these Indian roti -pies". "Pass me another naan -pie"…

Don't all non-Americans (like me), whenever they see pie in this context, quietly sing to themselves, "When a moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie..."?

Re: Jeff Varasano's Famous New York Pizza Recipe (2008)

#90

Post by ericd »

AndrewNCarr wrote: post #62
aeromusek wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Freakonimics (great podcast!) did a test a few years back that pretty convincingly dispelled the whole 'it's the water' argument: http://podcastnotes.org/2015/11/09/freakonomics-food-science...

Varasano also rejects the "special water" claim. I think the historically poor quality of pizza in rural areas is due to the "trade secret" recipe factors (which Varasano identifies) not being widely shared. I've been to small towns with a "House of Pizza" that made an awful flavorless and bready crust, and the locals loved it because they had no reference for anything better.

Yeah, it's probably mainly New York's intense competition that has made the pizza excellent. Unless you're in Times Square and have lots of tourists to prey on, you just can't pay the rent if you make bad food in NYC, it's too easy to find (and walk to) 10 other restaurants making the same thing.
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